Saturday, January 9, 2010

Toss up in Massachusetts

Buoyed by a huge advantage with independents and relative disinterest from Democratic voters in the state, Republican Scott Brown leads Martha Coakley 48-47.

Here are the major factors leading to this surprising state of affairs:

-As was the case in the Gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia last year, it looks like the electorate in Massachusetts will be considerably more conservative than the one that showed up in 2008. Obama took the state by 26 points then, but those planning to vote next week only report having voted for him by 16.

-Republicans are considerably more enthusiastic about turning out to vote than Democrats are. 66% of GOP voters say they are 'very excited' about casting their votes, while only 48% of Democrats express that sentiment- and that's among the Democrats who are planning to vote in contrast to the many who are apparently not planning to do so at this point.

-Brown has eye popping numbers with independents, sporting a 70/16 favorability rating with them and holding a 63-31 lead in the horse race with Coakley. Health care may be hurting Democratic fortunes with that group, as only 27% of independents express support for Obama's plan with 59% opposed.

-In a trend that's going to cause Democrats trouble all year, voters disgusted with both parties are planning to vote for the one out of power. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Brown's standing is that only 21% of Massachusetts voters have a favorable opinion of Congressional Republicans...but at the same time only 33% view Congressional Democrats favorably. And among voters who have a negative take on both parties, who account for more than 20% of the electorate, Brown leads 74-21.

-Because he's basically been untouched so far, Brown's favorability spread is a remarkable +32, at 57/25. For some perspective on how good those numbers are, Bob McDonnell was at a +20 spread with Virginia voters in our final poll there before going on to a 17 point victory.

All that said Coakley can certainly still win this race, perhaps even by a comfortable margin. Here's what she needs to do:

-Change the electorate. There are a lot more potential Coakley voters than Brown ones out there in Massachusetts, but she needs to get them more energized. For instance young voters were a crucial part of the Obama coalition but they're only accounting for 11% of likely voters right now and among those planning to turn out she has just a three point advantage.

-Make it about Ted Kennedy's legacy. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this poll is that among those planning to vote 47% oppose the health care bill to only 41% who express support for it. Clearly voters who loved Kennedy and want to see comprehensive health care reform become a reality are not grasping how important coming out to vote for Coakley is to making that goal happen.

-Tie Brown to national Republicans. Brown is surprisingly popular, but given his short time on the statewide political stage in Massachusetts it's likely that favorable image is a mile wide and an inch deep. We know that the overall GOP brand is terrible with Massachusetts voters, and Coakley needs to get voters to think of Brown as one of them. I'd run ads juxtaposing the fawning of conservative media celebrities like Sean Hannity over Brown with some of their other comments that progressive voters would find offensive and ask voters in the state if that's really what they want from their Senator.

Here's the reality: the Republicans and GOP leaning independents are going to come out and vote for Scott Brown. There's no doubt about that. But there's also a much larger pool of potential Democratic voters in the state. If Coakley can get them out, she wins. But this race is well past the stage where Democrats can take it for granted that will happen. It will be fascinating to see what happens the final ten days and we'll do a second poll on the race next weekend.

100 comments:

1. "Change the electorate". The young adults no longer care. They will not come out and vote in droves enough to save Coakley.

2. "Teddy's Legacy". People are finally starting to realize his legacy isn't so great for them now that they know how the health care bill will imapct them. I doubt any reasonable person will vote for higher taxes and rationed health care simply for warm fuzzy feeling of reminiscence.

3. "Tie Brown to national Republicans." Boooosh!Boooosh!Boooosh! Gawd, enough with that already. That's already been so over-used. Obama's been President for a whole year now and folks don't want what he's offering.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Brown's standing is that only 21% of Massachusetts voters have a favorable opinion of Congressional Republicans...

That's a funny line, what are tere like 7 of them. What could they possibly do against the Mass Democratic machine anyways. Scott Brown is the better choice far and away over Coakley. If you want Coakley save us all a bunch of money and just have Kerry vote twice.

What we need in Mass is a snowstorm on the day of the election. Why? Because many Dems have a Prius or small hybrid cars. Those of us with AWD beefy vehicles will make it to the polls. Guess which one most Republicans have? LOL! :) :)

This is one of the few polls from you guys I don't fully trust. I mean, the HC bill with a net negative with voters in MA, but a net positive in CT? Not quite sure about that. Either the MA poll is wrong, or every other poll everywhere is wrong. I'll go with every other poll.

PPP should be giving Brown some advice on how to win, not Coakley. As par for the course, PPP is showing their true collars as a partisan organization that is in the tank for the Democrats. As to Health Care Reform being so great for young people, the reality is young people will be FORCED to pay for Health Care Coverage they can't afford and don't want so if the young folks are smart they would cast their vote for Brown and KILL THE BILL.

We Gen X and Gen Y voters, couldn't care less about "Ted's Legacy". The sooner he is forgotten the better we'll all be. We can only hope the baby boomers stay home and don't carry the day for do nothing Joakley, she's a disaster. Go Scott Brown, restore fiscal and social sanity to this God forsaken state!

The whole agenda behind the Health Care Reform Bill, is not better health care, the real purpose is to transfer people’s hard earned money to the power elite in DC and big corporations, YOUNG FOLKS will be obligated by force of law to buy health insurance they do not want and cannot afford or pay a fine and go to jail. Medicare will be slashed which will turn Seniors into second class citizens when it comes to health care. The whole bill is a huge tax on the middle class with no concomitant benefit. The Bill is riddled with back room dirty deals that maggot like politicians who feed on the body politic are hatching under the cover of darkness. The polls already show the majority of the pubic are against this bill. Remember the draft? that wasn't even a universal mandate. This Bill will impoverish Americans and turn them into slaves of State. The Democrats who are ignoring the will of the people all must go. They are all scum and should be driven out of office. Instead of giving tips to Coakley on how to win, PPP should be telling young folks, seniors and the Middle Class to VOTE FOR BROWN if they don’t want to be screwed over by the Democrats.

You poll writers are lost. As the one post says young american will not show up to endorse broken promises. That young crowd used so well by the BO campaign is the most techno-savy voter groups. We bought the change mantra and see the campaign lies. It is just not that hard for us we live on ipods, pc's, and smrt phones. I had hoped myself he was serious about eliminating gov't corruption or "change" as he sold it to us but when you can see vid clip after vid clip of the lies and when you see a gov't controled by one party force law after law down throats of a majority of the population what u see here will be repeated over and over again. Get use to this and you better find some new advice. When u arrest a guy for kissing his girl friend becuase he btoke a law when our leaders regulary exempt themselves for all their law breaking, bribe accepting, lying pol..blah blah and they make him the bad guy instead of the person who left his post, the camera's that did not work and an airport that failed basic exit/egress control (BY THE WAY THEY ALL WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT) we all wonder when will it be me that ends up in prison becuase of a good bye kiss.....enough

I can explain why HC is unpopular in MA. They already did it and it sucks. But at least they did the experiment at the state level like you are supposed to rather than subject the whole nation to the experiment at once like Dear Leader wants.

For all of you who didn't know, PPP is a Dem polling outfit. Not being snarky, that is who pays them.

Being from NY I am slightly ashamed to have to depend on the good people of MA to save my butt. But as a small business owner it is what it is. If DemCare goes through not only won't I even think of expanding when the economy improves, I might have to consider cutting back on employees.

This isn't hyperbole, read the bill itself and the relevant sections on costs. It's devastating and since I am certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed if I can figure it out many, many others have as well.

Too bad Tom feels the need to be so partisan and to give Coakley advice. I enjoy his analysis and appreciate his polling us on where to poll. I also like his clear and simple, regularly updated blog. However, many of us reading his blog and following his firm would appreciate some semblance of neutrality. It's human nature for incentives to color results, and Tom, we want to be able to trust you. Thanks for the hard work.

They called the death of Ted Kennedy "the End of an Era" Martha Coakley losing completes that epitaph. She should have changed her name to martha Kennedy if she wanted any chance at winning. Coakley is a dreadful name for a politican....sounds too close to Coke alley which bring to mind sleezy back room drug dealing. Then when one looks deeper at her poor record at prosecuting political corruption...the name fits.

I'm reading that if Brown wins, the Dems will stall swearing him in until the healthcare vote is finished. What are you all hearing about that? They swore in Ownes of NY23 the following day so he could vote. What hypocrites.

Speaking of Ted Kennedy. May he rot in hell where he belongs. How you fools in MA elect people like that just boggle the mind. Please stay the hell out of Florida. We have enough problems with illegal immigrants, let alone delusional democrats moving here from the great white North. You want to pay high taxes and for my health care, stay the hell up there and enjoy it, since that's what your going to get voting for Coakley. Our problem in FL is getting rid of our Gov Republican Charlie Christ, a RINO looking to be our next Senator, that spent the last campaign carrying Crazy Juan McCain's bags to campaign stops, instead of being Governor. If Juan McCain hadn't visited Miami the day prior to our primaries and pandered to the Cuban mafia who tells the Cuban American's to vote for, we may have had Romney as President, since Romney was projected to win the FL primary that year. Guess we all have problems! Vote for change... ha, haaaa, haaaaaaa, hee, hee! Gawd help us all!!

The PPP internals look exactly like VA and NJ - heavy opposition to Obamacare among actual voters, Indis breaking 2:1 GOP, the GOP voters nearly united and both the Indis and GOP coming to the polls en masse.

Whether that will be enough for Brown to win in one of the darkest blue states in the union is too close to call.

However, if PPP's internals are close to the final results in MA of all places, then 60 to 80 Blue Dogs in Bush/McCain districts are in serious danger.

And if Brown takes this race into the night or actually pulls off the upset of the decade, then how many Dems in red states or districts will be willing to vote for the electoral suicide pact known as Obamacare, even if the anti-democratic Dems do attempt to thwart the will of the People by delaying Brown's certification so an appointed senator stand in can vote on Obamacare in the dead of night?

This development makes me pretty happy. If even in reliably left-wing Massachusets, the liberals have to break their backs to win the Senatorial elections - wait until more moderate states find out about this. Obama and his ilk will most likely destroy the Democratic party and liberalism. Barry is once again proving my predictions right.

The people turned out the republicans when they did not live up to their promises and now they are ready to turn out the democrats who promised change and an open government and have delivered back room deals, buying votes at the expense of the other states, massive spending, and massive debt.

In Massachusetts, people are starting to realize that Health Care Reform means we end up with a worse system than we already have. Why should we vote for "Teddy's Legacy?" Other states may need reform -- we're already reformed here, and I kind of like our system.

With regard to HC reform being popular in CT, but not in MA... last I recall (a couple weeks ago), I saw a CT poll that gave a 51/48 fav/unfav on the President's HC bill. If that's accurate... those favorables could've easily gone down over a couple weeks and/or MA could just be a couple points behind.

Based on talking to Nutmeggers, I haven't found HC to be overwhelmingly popular with anyone... Ds, Rs or Us.

I'm amused by the commenters who are criticizing a progressive polling firm, which has always been open about its alignment, because it's offering the Democratic candidate advice. That's kind of their purpose.

And no, to my knowledge, they don't get paid by the Democratic Party, so whichever commenter said that is also wrong.

Teddy's legacy is one of failure. One of the worst senators ever. But noitce how everyone just fell all over him after his death, as if he was some saint. He wasn't. He was bad for this country. Period. And health care as Obama know's it, is bad for this country. Maybe, just maybe, the people of Mass. will wake up and shake the liberal cobwebs out of their ears, and start acting like the patriots their ancestors were, and their football teams namesake.

This is a amazing turn of events. If Brown wins this race, that will be the end of Obama Care... The senate dems will lose they 60 vote cloture, and the rest of any moderate democrats aren't going to commit political suicide and ram this thing through....Read: A president's epiphany....at...http://cooperscopy.blogspot.com/

Of course Coakley will win; when the buses arrive with loads of ACORN-sponsored zombies from CT,NY & NJ.The FBI and MA State Police should beef-up presence at every polling place to ensure that the double-dipping liberal thieves don't get to vote 4 times.

Best of luck! Coakley and her blind libtard followers should remember VA & NJ gubernatorial races.

THIS is where the republicans needs to put people at the polls to watch the voting. PLEASE conservatives,republicans and logically thinking democrats donate your time to the voting polls to make sure ACORN and SEIU don't do too much damage.

BRING recorders, taping all day/night. They are more apt to NOT VOTE MORE THAN ONCE IF THEIR FACES ARE CAMERA proving their corruptness KNOWING the puppets in d.c. WON'T BE ABLE TO SAVE THEM THIS TIME!!!!

The whole agenda behind the Health Care Reform Bill, is not better health care, the real purpose is to transfer people’s hard earned money to the power elite in DC and big corporations, YOUNG FOLKS will be obligated by force of law to buy health insurance they do not want and cannot afford or pay a fine and go to jail. Medicare will be slashed which will turn Seniors into second class citizens when it comes to health care. The whole bill is a huge tax on the middle class with no concomitant benefit. The Bill is riddled with back room dirty deals that maggot like politicians who feed on the body politic are hatching under the cover of darkness. The polls already show the majority of the pubic are against this bill. Remember the draft? that wasn't even a universal mandate. This Bill will impoverish Americans and turn them into slaves of State. The Democrats who are ignoring the will of the people all must go. They are all scum and should be driven out of office. Instead of giving tips to Coakley on how to win, PPP should be telling young folks, seniors and the Middle Class to VOTE FOR BROWN for Senate in Massachusetts if they don’t want to be screwed over by the Democrats.

native americanSo you are giving advice to Coakly saying she needs to tie Brown to the GOP and that will do it. Oh no, the GOP's secret is out, this is your secret to winning! LOL. I guess this is what you will use in every race in 2010 elections,LOL. So on the other side of that, she should tie herself to the Dumbocratic Party, yea, they are real popular with the people of the U.S. You think that the voting process and the American people are that thin. You and the current socialist regime in Washington feel the same why about the American people then, we are stupid. Evidently you operate this polling web sight from a closet in an ACORN office somewhere. While your in there do you see any Dumbocrat skeletons. Just look behind the SEIU brooms and mops. Never heard of PPP,but someone had you rated high in polling service. I never heard of you, and with this article, I'm rating you -428, in case you don't know what that number is, -428 degrees is absolute 0. Grab a broom and go to work, your no good as a polling service.

Tick...tick...tick Seems November 2010, 2012 will come early this year. When Scott Brown wins this race in a week from now, shock waves will come over Congress. Kennedy will roll over in his grave, and best of all Obama care 2will be stoppede dead in it's tracks. Every Democrat in Congress, even Ms.Pelosi may take notice. The American voter is white hot, over the recent folies of Congress, out of control spending, bills and laws we do not want jammed down the voters throats. As they say, the worm has turned and become a venomus snake.

With all the problems in the past caused by both parties, I would think that the voters would be waaaaay past just voting the party line. I used to consider myself a republican, but have since switched to independent because of bush. I don't like what the con man's regime, henchmen, gangsters (you pick one), have planned for the American taxpayer and I believe Brown is the perfect solution to shut down those plans. Send a huge message to the con man, vote Brown on the 19th

Quite a poll PPP came up with here. Was it conducted the same way the PPP poll in NY 23 was on November 1, right before the election, that showed conservative Doug Hoffman beating Bill Owens by 54-38 - sixteen points? It looks like somebody at PPP doesn't know what they're doing, or a little spike-the-candidates- numbers dishonest polling is being done.Coakley, a good candidate, great for Massachusetts, wins by 17, I say.

If PPP wanted to preserve any semblance of an image of unbiased neutrality, which is probably the best image for a polling organization, it would be have been wiser of them to have refrained from blatantly giving advice to one side of this race..as they just did in the story above.

Not cool PPP..not cool at all.

You have just blatantly done what Rasmmuseen is (unfairly) accused of doing by Democrats and those on the Left.

Sean said... Wow, since when has this site turned into Free Republic in the comments?----------------------------------

It's the same everywhere on the Internet..except at hardline Left wing sites.

Perhaps it will give you an idea of the angry storm brewing out here in the REAL America outside the Washington,D.C. Beltway.

Virginia and New Jersey were a wake-up call..and instead of those in Congress getting the message, they seem even MORE insistent upon shoving extreme Left wing legislation down our throat that the Amercian people have made it VERY clear that we do NOT want...in EVERY poll out there.

It would be a good time for the descendants of the Sons of Liberty to remember their past (including the Daughters of Liberty) and become Ground Zero for rebuking the Obama/Salinsky agenda for The United States of America and elect Scott Brown for the US Senate. Don't worry about when he will be seated. If he is elected the rest of the country will help you take care of that.

Are you high and what are you on? The republicans did WHAT to our country? What are you smoking there arafat?! There is not ONE Democrat who has a clue, not one! Look back there idiot..... Remember Ronald Reagan? Simple man, simple principal. The more government there there is the WORSE this country will get, and clowns lik you likely work for government in some fashion. How typical that people like you blame any of this on the republicans. Many people in our country like myself are not a democrat or a republican but we just think COMMON SENSE, which MOST DEMOCRATS in this country do not have an OUNCE of, and many republicans lack too....

As for Martha Coakley, she is clueless, period. Scott Brown has common sense and old fashioned values, but most of all, he has guts and intelligence. Mrs Coakley should go write her book and go sign autographs. Let her hang out with the clown Deval... Mr. ONE AND DONE! He and Obama both did a fabulous job of FOOLING everyone with their 'together we can, and "change" garbage....

Sure together we can.... yeah yeah... 90 days after Patrick got in some 78000 people applied for STATE jobs... he hired 2000 when MANY PEOPLE IN OUR STATE WERE LOSING THEIR BUEINESSES! Does anyone wonder WHO those 78000 idiots were? Sure. They were a bunch of morons who belived Deval's promise. Get me in and I will get you a job....Patrick is a phony. as for Obama, sure, change happened, and now change is about all that some people have in their pockets!

Folks, vote for SCOTT BROWN and let's remove the IDIOT DEMOCRATS one by one.....

Why isn't anybody talking about the news that Coakley is soft on prosicuting crime. The 23 month old girl that was rapped. No thanks to her the man was found guilty and is serving time. Only because some else took over. And also the Curley case.

As a conservative, I would love to believe these numbers. But I think PPP's agenda here should be abundantly clear to anyone who can read between the lines:

They are inflating Brown's numbers in an attempt to scare more democrats into turning out to vote. The huge change just in the last couple weeks in the numbers should be a red flag.

A key aim of all these partisan polling outfits is to drive up the voter turnout of their chosen consituency.

Coakley is an incredibly weak candidate, with a poor record as a prosecutor and no legislative record (Amy Klobuchar anyone?), just another rubber-stamp commie progressive.

If Brown can maintain his appeal to independants (and as one), he could pull it off in a FAIR election.

But if the dems proved anything, it's that they can rig close elections (Al Franken). Many precincts in MN had many more people vote than were registered, which reeks of ballot-box stuffing. They created fake machine breakdowns and then copied and double-counted ballots in heavily dem districts. This is not even taking into account all of the fraud opened up by the motor-voter law and absentee balloting. In my precinct all you needed to vote was a copy of your freaking phone bill to prove you resided in the district, meaning illegal aliens, criminals, or martians could have voted.

We need voting reform in this country. No same-day registration.If you are too lazy to even send in a freaking pre-paid, self-addressed postcard to register, you don't deserve to vote. Then we can have a national database to guarantee no one double-votes, or votes who isn't elegible. It would take 15 seconds for the operator to mark you down as having voted in a computer-based system at the polling place, and 15 seconds for the operator to realize someone had already voted or wasn't eligible either as a non-citizen or convicted felon.

I hope Brown wins. However the tide is turning in public opinion, I have met way too many people who are apologists for their party, who have a failsafe in their brain which turns their mind off when confronted with a disturbing fact about their party. They care more about their party identity than the result of it.

The future of the republican party lies in the ron paul wing. Fiscal conservatism, limited government, and most importantly, personal liberty and non-interventionist foreign policy (In other words the polar opposite of the bush/cheney wing).

We have an historic opportunity to hang the "war-monger" label back on Obama and the democrats. The anti-war thing was the chief thing that attracted young people to Obama in 2008, and most of those people have deserted him.

Reading Dr. Paul's work has opened my eyes to the genesis and future of the whole terrorist conflict.Our military prescence in saudi arabia is what started the whole thing. The Mullahs in Iran tried for years to foment Jihad among the people against the west, and no one cared at all until the gulf war. We armed and trained the Taliban we are now fighting to fight the soviets in the late 70's, which devastated the country and turned it into what it is now. these people are not going away, for every one that we kill 3 more will be attracted to the cause. We are going have to leave for any kind of peace, and it still may take decades for the anti-west sentiment to fade. Killing thousands more people and wasting another trillion in taxpayer money is not making us any safer, just poorer. This was bin-laden's STATED intention with 9/11, to get the west bogged down in an incredibly expensive guerilla war in the middle east. Why are we still playing along? It can only get progressively worse for us.

We have the technology to detect nuclear radiation anywhere in the world. We know where the nukes are. we can wipe them out in a second with a missile if we need to. We can have a limited foreign presence and still protect against terrorism with effective airline security.

We have troops in 130 countries, yet we're devastating communities with base closings here. Bring those bases and troops back here and put them on the border.

We also have the opportunity to hang the big-business label back on the democrats after all of the bailouts and federal reserve, fannie/freddie shenanigans. With 3 words we can reclaim the traditional republican brand: end the fed.

Central banking (The federal reserve) is the single biggest cause of financial disaster in the history of the world. It caused the great depression, this recession, and the future depression which will come with the total destruction of the dollar in the next few years, which has been building since the gold standard ended in 1971. 1 dollar in 1913 (birth of fed) is worth 4 cents today. We haven't had a free market economy in 96 years, it's all been manipulated by the fed for the benefit of a few.

The greatest tax on americans is not the income tax or a sales tax, but the invisible tax caused by the destruction of the purchasing power of your money when the federal reserve creates money out of thin air by purchasing government debt with absolutely nothing to back it. You all have taken a 16% pay cut this year, and you don't even know it. But you complain about gas and food going up. Everything is more expensive. Is it worth more? No, it is not, YOUR MONEY is worth less, and it is all because of the federal reserve.

The very first thing someone should research who is new to politics is the federal reserve. You will be appalled beyond belief.

The Dems will NEVER get rid of the fed, because it was created specifically to fund the welfare state through the keynesian economics of inflation. Heard of Bernie Madoff, this is a ponzi scheme on a global scale.

As the story (PPP) says... " For instance young voters were a crucial part of the Obama coalition...." so they are telling Coakley advise on how to win, ok that's fine, most of us know PPP is partisan to the left, they always have been. BUT! your basically saying lets get the Young ignorant voters to go and vote like we did for obama, as we all know with growth / age the wiser one becomes. So thanks PPP for making the point the ignorant (lacking knowledge) voted for obama.

But this time the Indy's have had enough of the left and millions of the so-called mis-informed inspired young voters have also aquired knowledge (been informed)and are voting the dems out of office as they too now see the clown behind the mask.

I'm a native Rhode Islander currently residing in Texas, and my sister and her family lived in Massachusetts for over 10 years. The health insurance policy that was foisted on Massachusetts citizens is disastrous and those who are informed are fed up with the fiscally irresponsible DNC. There is a reason they call it Taxachusetts. Vote Scott Brown!

I am a lifelong Massachusetts democrat...formerly. That changed recently. I have always voted my conscience anyway, but more true now than ever.

I am voting for Scott Brown to send a message. Voting against Coakley to send a message. The Massachusetts house and senate need to pay very close attention to the numbers in this special election. We have been watching your filthy double dealings. We have seen the depths to which you have sunk. We do not need your special interest kinds at all. We have long memories and all of you will come up for reelection eventually. Watch and learn you bunch of democrat, full of yourself, back room deal making crooks. Your elections will come soon enough.

Obama and company might turn out to be the BEST thing that ever happened to this country! Meaning that they have pissed off so many people that an awakening might not have happened with McCain in orifice...

We let a good man go in Floridawhen our Governor backed McCaininstead of Mitt Romney. Ma. don'tlet Scott Brown down, he soundslike a guy with a head on his shoulders. We need him, we needhis vote as we all on going topay. It gets worse every day andwe need some common sense in thesenate and need help now to saveus from this insanity. Votefor Brown.

Everyone In mass should be asking themselves can I afford more taxes, loss of my job because my employment can not pay for mandatory health care. Do we want to be safe when we fly or just going out shopping. Im not in to politics but I know that I do not want the Goverment to control my health care, I do not want them to raise my taxes. VOTE BROWN FOR SENATOR PLEASE HELP ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WANT TO STOP WHATS GOING ON IN WASHINGTON!!! AGAIN VOTE BROWN

OK, Ted Died and one thing most people do not know is that back when Romney was Gov. there was a circumstance where an intrim govt official was needed and the Dems changed the law to NOT allow the acting Gov. to fill the seat. That was so Romney would not appoint a temp Republican to the seat. Go ahead to TED. Ted died and left an open seat. Duval Patrick and the corrupt MA government immediately changed the law they put on the books without any delay and he appointed a Dem to the seat. If they had followed their own rule and left the seat empty untill this election this whole health care scandal would not even made it this far. They will hold off appointing brown untill their vote even though when the tables were turned they immediately appointed a Dem. PLEASE vote every incumbent out, they are seriousely worse than organized crime!!!

Amen to that last commenter from 9 AM today... Yes, this is in fact like organized crime......... this is the way DEMS are, plain and simple. Sure, the idiot Reid makes his statement and now a year later Obama hears about it.... IF THIS WERE A REPUBLICAN saying that, they would have him RESIGN, like they did to Lott way back....

And Clinton, did you all hear what HE said about Obama? But sure, again, no problem.... IMAGINE IF George W had said that!!!!!!!!!!! They would have had him TARRED & FEATHERED!

The Democratic MORONS are mostly ALL the same.... and their DOUBLE standard garbage is like them--- garbage!

The VOTERS of MASS need to WAKE UP. Pure and simple.

Martha Coakley is just another circus clown like MOST of the Democrats, but everyone have faith. Behind all this, EVEN SOME OF THESE DEMOCRATS NOW SEE THE REAL OBAMA and the real Pelosi and the rest of them...

Which is presisely WHY Dodd backed out, and a couple other DEMS. In time, I predict you will see MORE because some of them KNOW THE DAMAGE OBAMA and his circus clown puppets have ALREADY DONE and how much MORE they will do. If any of them have BRIANS and really care about OUR COUNTRY, they too will step down. Let the Republicans take our country back and begin to REPAIR the damage and bring us back to old fashioned values!

"When u arrest a guy for kissing his girl friend "wasn't that ridiculous yet you lawyer up a guy that brings explosives onto a plane.We're watching in other states very closely.This guy is the only one standing between us and Obamacare.He's not only getting support in Mass the rest of us are donating and rooting for him.The problem is the Dems supporting the Health Care bill will pull out all the stops for Coakley. They'll throw everything and the kitchen sink in there. Talking BIG money.Hopefully the rest of the folks donating to Brown will offset the big money flying Coakley's way.A race to watch.A win for Brown there would set off an earthquake in Washington. Right now that's what we need. The craziness and corruption must stop. I'm an independent. I vote person,not party. I have never seen an admin like this since the days of Nixon.

Let vote an other Queen to the Hill, they will never listen your voice, how many young person will vote if they knew, if they do not buy insurance they will pay fine or go to jail, no more party time kids. Let Pelosi see how the astro tuff does.

We hope the educated voters of Massachusetts get to the polls and defeat these phony teabaggers(Obama haters). The GOP has become obstructionists and the party of NO. We need to see an end to the reactionary political ideology of yesteryear.The party has been hijacked by far right nuts and religious fanatics. Please don't let Massachusetts fall under the skulldruggery of the fanatical religious right from the bible belt. We know you can turn out the vote Dem's.

Our current health care system bankrupts a huge number of people and/or causes premature death for thousands each year. Does anyone dispute this? If not, then just wanted to confirm that those against reform either do not want the government to do anything about this (a valid argument I disagree with) or do not care?

"A study reported in The American Journal of Medicine this month found that 62 percent of American bankruptcies are linked to medical bills. These medical bankruptcies had increased nearly 50 percent in just six years..."and "A 2004 study by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, found that lack of health insurance causes 18,000 unnecessary deaths a year. That’s one person slipping through the cracks and dying every half an hour." - Kristof, NYtimes, Aug 29, 2009

I sure am proud of our Americans in Massachusetts. We all need to band together and stop the one-sided power grab that has happened. You all who have voted to help our country and your State from being taken over by a Socialist agenda have made me very proud of you and reinforced that God is in control. From now own, if we can put what is just first, we can accomplish anything good. WOW! GO PEOPLE. You are right, it is the people's seat not just a given that the seat belongs to certain people or certain partys.

"If not, then just wanted to confirm that those against reform either do not want the government to do anything about this (a valid argument I disagree with) or do not care?"

False dichotomy. There's a third option that many proponents of Obamacare seem unwilling to discuss (or even admit that it exists). Few are arguing that we should keep the status quo. The conflict isn't whether we should reform the healthcare system, but how we should go about doing it.

Looks like Brown is ahead so far. Hopefully he'll pull it off and we'll have some semblance of bipartisanship in DC.

This surge by the Republicans will not last.President Obama has been in office for one year.The economy has been in a mess since 2007 with signs of the trouble long before that.This mess all started with greed and the Republican way of self interest.We are in such a hole that it may take years to get to full recovery.It will not happen in one or two years.Stop blaming the Dems for the economic mess.Yes, things are bad.Yes, people are still losing their homes and jobs.Yes, there is fear.What people need to do is to stop voting out of fear.Vote with your heads.Remember what political party put us in this mess.It was the Republican Party.Scott Brown will not change things.He may help to get in the way of Health Care Reform and a few other things because the Democrats now have less than 60 seats in the Senate.Health Care Reform is a great thing as it would give the people the power of choice.If there is no Health Care Reform, then health care continues to be the crime it has been for years.With Republicans, it will be the same old greed you saw before Obama.This will take time.Hang in there.Remember what this country was like after George Bush, Sr. left office.Reminds me of now.It took a Democrat to fix it all and it took time.Under Bill Clinton, we had economic BOOM. Yes, the Republicans were in control of Congress during most of Clinton's years, but they made things hard for him and did not go along with what it took to get America back on track. So the credit for that goes to President Clinton and the Democrats. Don't let the Republican Party get in the way again.

Considering how stupid the republican comments are, it makes sense companies have to use H1B visas to get intelligent workers in Massachusetts. People reflecting the worst in themselves in how they perceive others: in Acorn you see all the christian churches busing the senile to vote! If the current medical system works then why do we pay $200 per 10 minute office visit and 5 minutes with the doctor. And you do pay it, whether through current taxes or insurance. Yes, Martha was a lousy candidate with a less than mediocre record and was a capricious AG. Republicans always win on "personality" (consider JFK vs Nixon), run a good loking guy with no record (Scott Brown) or third rate actor (like Reagan)or sports star. How about a poll to see if the public wants to see the republcans actually carry out their threat to filibuster? Make them stay up day and night until they go hoarse!